Over at The Intercept, Ryan Devereaux and Jeremy Scahill have a fascinating story about the government's rapidly growing terrorist watchlist. There are 680,000 people on this "Terrorist Screening Database," and over 40 percent of them have "no recognized terrorist affiliation." Both this list and the related "no fly list" have been expanding rapidly in recent years. Here's a graphic explaining the watchlist:
Just a few minutes before this piece ran, however, the Associated Press threw up a quick piece on exactly the same subject. According to the Huffington Post's Ryan Grim, this was a deliberate leak from the government:
The government, it turned out, had "spoiled the scoop," an informally forbidden practice in the world of journalism. To spoil a scoop, the subject of a story, when asked for comment, tips off a different, typically friendlier outlet in the hopes of diminishing the attention the first outlet would have gotten. Tuesday's AP story was much friendlier to the government's position, explaining the surge of people added to the watch list on a foiled terror plot. [Huffington Post]
On Twitter, Glenn Greenwald (the flagship reporter for The Intercept) said this could result in the government only being given a short time to react to stories. John Cook, editor-in-chief of the publication, confirmed that is the new policy. According to Grim, Cook told a government official that "in the future the agency would have only 30 minutes to respond to questions before publication."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
‘We must empower young athletes with the knowledge to stay safe’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Fox’s Kilmeade sorry for ‘just kill’ homeless remarkSpeed Read Kilmeade’s ‘rare on-air apology’ also served as Fox News’ response to the controversy
-
Russian drone tests Romania as Trump spinsSpeed Read Trump is ‘resisting congressional plans to impose newer and tougher penalties on Russia’s energy sector’
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
